How to Create QR Codes for Business Cards
On a standard business card you have about 2 cm to play with. That is enough — but only if you keep the content short.
Size and placement
Two centimetres square is the practical minimum, and it works because a card is read at arm's length, around 20 cm. Keep the four-module quiet zone clear, and do not let the code touch the trim edge — cards are cut with a tolerance of a millimetre or two and a code sliced at the margin will not read.
Back of the card, bottom corner, is the conventional spot. Leave the front for the name.
Link or contact card?
- A link to your site or profile page. Short content, small code, and you control what is on the other side.
- A vCard that drops your name, phone, email and company straight into the phone's contacts. More convenient for the recipient, but far more data — a full vCard can easily double the module count, and on a 2 cm code the modules get very small.
If you want the vCard, either print the code a little larger or trim the fields to name, phone, email and website. Job title, full postal address and a second phone number are what push it over the edge.
Printing details that matter on cards
- Send the SVG. Card printers work in vector and will thank you.
- Matte or soft-touch lamination, not gloss.
- Solid black on white. Not grey, not your brand colour at 60% tint, not white on navy.
- If the card is very dark, put the code in a white box. An inverted code is a coin flip.
Order a sample card before the run of five hundred. Scan it, hand it to someone else and watch them scan it too.